Assessment of Resources and Practices within Sector Institutions for Measurement and Monitoring of t

1
Assessment of Resources and Practices within
Sector Institutions for Measurement and
Monitoring of the Water and Sanitation Sector
Millennium Development Goal (MDG)
2
Presentation Outline

• Background
• Objective of the study
• Selected organisations and Sites Visited
• Various systems for monitoring Coverage in the
  Water and Sanitation Sector
• MDG reporting
• Observations from the study
• Issues and Comments
• Making the CONIWAS Numbers Count
• Recommended Framework for data gathering for MDG
  reporting

3
Background

• Ghana is a one of the 192 countries that signed
  onto the Millennium Declaration (2000) into the
  Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Ghana
  therefore identifies herself with the goals and
  sees the goals as very critical to her own agenda
  for growth and prosperity. Ghana has therefore
  situated her national development efforts,
  priorities and targets within the globally
  acclaimed agenda for development. Consequently,
  thirteen (13) of the MDG targets are included in
  the core list of the Ghana Poverty Reduction
  Strategy (GPRS) which serves as the countrys
  framework poverty reduction and therefore defines
  the policies, strategies, programmes and
  projects that are needed to move the country from
  its current level of development to a higher
  level.

4
Background 2

• For the past 10 years, the Government of Ghana
  together with her development partners have
  committed huge investment investments into the
  rural water supply and sanitation sector and
  this has resulted in significant improvement in
  terms of coverage in the sector. It is sad to
  note that despite these investments Ghana ranks
  high on the global league of countries with
  Guinea worm infestation. Indeed, Ghanas position
  is preventing the world from eradicating the
  diseases. It is paradoxical to see that the more
  the investment in the sector, the higher the
  guinea worm cases.

5
Background - 3

• An important requirement of the MDG Project is
  that countries who have signed unto to the
  project monitor and report on progress made in
  terms of target achievement.
• The need to monitor progress toward achieving
  the MDGs on water and sanitation sector has
  been widely acknowledged among the water and
  sanitation sector stakeholders in Ghana.
  However, background information about the sector
  remains unsatisfactory and the reliability of
  existing statistics is being questioned.

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Objectives of the Study

• Facilitate understanding of the MDG monitoring
  system in Ghana, with regard to sources of data,
  institutional arrangements and the functional
  linkages between different organisations (MDAs)
  who have a clear mandate for monitoring the MDGs.
• Review existing monitoring structures and
  processes within on-going sector projects (such
  as DISCAP, EVORAP, CWSPII, DBWSC UNICEF) and
  determine how outputs from these feed into the
  national MDG monitoring framework.
• Determine the existing capacity and adequacy of
  structures and systems within Civil Society
  Organisations and at district and community
  levels with regard to generation, analysis and
  sharing of primary data that ultimately feed into
  the national MDGs monitoring framework.
• Determine the present and potential scope of
  involvement of Civil Society Organisations in the
  MDG delivery and monitoring process and hence
  develop the framework for the formulation of the
  proposed CONIWAS led MDG Monitoring Project.

7
Selected organisations and Sites Visited

• The Joint Monitoring Team (JMP)
• National level institutions (NDPC, GSS etc).
• Stakeholders at the regional level (CWSA and RCC)
• The District and Sub-district level
• Civil Society organisation and stakeholders
• Zoning for regional and District level study
• Zone 1 Volta Region, Eastern Region and Greater
  Accra Region
• Zone 2 Northern Region, Upper East Region and
  Upper West Region
• Zone 3 Brong Ahafo Region and Ashanti Region
• Zone 4 Central Region and Western Region

8
Various Database Systems in use

• Asset Management System - DISCAP
• The EVORAP/Gtz system
• The District Based Water and Sanitation System
  (DBWS) used in the Danida regions of CWSA
• CWSA InfoSys Standardised regional database
  system for CWSA
• The National Monitoring System (NMS) of CWSA
• The (Ground Water for Windows) GWW
• Ghana Info System
• Other Systems

9
Findings on Systems in Use

• Asset Management System from DISCAP to the
  districts in the three northern regions. The
  system supported by DISCAP is not particularly
  designed to support the monitoring of the MDG. It
  is basically meant to support the districts in
  their own operations. There is no central
  support for the system neither is there a central
  location for data collation from the various
  district systems. It is meant to be a stand
  alone system operating only at the district
  level. DISCAP itself neither expect nor demand
  any feedback from the districts. Though the
  system has been distributed to the districts for
  some time now data entry is now beginning in some
  of the district. The question is who supports
  the system when the DISCAP program ends? Data
  from the system has not been disseminated to any
  unit yet.
• The EVORAP/Gtz system is mainly and operational
  system and not actually for monitoring. The
  system is a suite o of spreadsheets. The data
  are filled on forms in the communities where
  EVORAP operates then the filled forms are sent to
  the regional offices where officers in the region
  enter the values in to the spreadsheets. The
  data is not sent through the DAs. It is summary
  reports that are sent to CWSA. Again the system
  is completely dependent on EVORAP so what happens
  when the project ends.
• Arrangements have been made to develop the
  system further into Database management system
  and to link up with the CWSA System

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Findings Systems in Use -2

• The District Based Water and Sanitation System
  (DBWS) is a system used in the Danida regions of
  CWSA. Its best operations are in the Volta
  Region. In the Volta Region there has enjoyed
  enormous support from the Danida projects. A
  newer version of the system is being worked on.
  The demand for details on technical data makes it
  depend heavily on the central support from the
  regional offices of CWSA. New facilities cannot
  be entered in the districts because some
  technical data required can only be provided at
  the regional level. Part of the operations of the
  system has to do with the Monitoring for
  Operations and Maintenance (MOM). It is the MOM
  component that the districts are much involved
  in. The system is capable of producing Maps using
  a link with a GIS.
• The CWSA InfoSys is the system intended to be a
  standard Regional database for CWSA, It in
  intended to be used to capture detailed data on
  daily operations and activities on the facilities
  like Borehole drilling, Small towns water supply
  systems, capacity building, O M activities etc.
  The system is similar in structure, operations
  and functions to the DBWS except that this is an
  attempt to depart from project based and
  development partner driven systems to a unifying
  national system for CWSA. The system is capable
  of producing Maps using a link with a GIS.

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Findings Systems in Use -3

• The National Monitoring System (NMS) of CWSA has
  been distributed from the national to the
  regional level. The system is devoid of elaborate
  technical details and concentrates on the
  statistics of the facilities and the providers
  with the community population to compute coverage
  and develop a Strategic Investment Plan (SIP).
  This is the system CWSA uses to report on the
  national coverage. The system disaggregates the
  information from the national to regional,
  district and even community levels. The system
  has not been distributed to the districts. Data
  formats are sent to the districts in either
  hardcopy or spreadsheets. When the data forms
  are filled they are sent to the CWSA offices in
  the region where they are entered into the
  system. The absence of technical and operation
  data has made the regions focus on systems with
  technical and operational details. Interest in
  other systems does not make update take place as
  regularly as required. The alternative is to
  enhance the system to pick inventory data from
  the systems with technical and operational
  details.

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Findings Systems in Use - 4

• The Ground Water for Windows (GWW) has been
  piloted by World Vision with support from UNICEF
  as the tool for gathering data on all ground
  water. It is not intended only for the Water and
  Sanitation sector only but under the auspices of
  the Water Commission as a UN programme. The
  exciting feature of this system has to do with
  the association of the database system with a
  GPS. From World Vision who piloted the system, it
  requires certain skills which are not readily
  available in the districts but the contractor and
  consultants can be trained to provide the
  technical requirements on the system. To begin
  using this system nation wide, expects would have
  to be engaged to plot and gather data on all
  existing facilities across the country.
• UNICEF is supporting the Ghana Statistical
  Service in collaboration with NDPC to deploy the
  Ghana Info System. The system is a customised
  version of the international version Child Info.
  The system is yet to be deployed to the
  districts. The system is not designed just for
  data on Water and Sanitation sector but on all
  developmental issues. The information can be
  aggregated from the district level to the
  regional and national level. The strong point of
  this system would be the fact that the districts
  would be using one system for all their
  information system. This will include health
  data, education data, water and sanitation data
  etc. The full features of the system were
  however not examined during the study.

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Findings Systems in Use - 5

• There are various other systems used by the
  stakeholders for their own record keeping and
  reporting. Some of these systems are manual
  systems with quite well kept filling system.
  Others are on spreadsheets and other electronic
  storage media but not many other database systems
  of any significance.
• UNICEF has being supporting different
  systems like the GWW being piloted by World
  Vision, DevInfo and the Ghana Info championed by
  the Ghana Statistical Service with the support of
  NDPC. All these systems have different emphasis
  but all have implications for the water and
  sanitation sector.

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MDG reporting on the Field

• The study reveals that the understanding of the
  MDG is very low across the country. Many of the
  sites visited showed a lot of interest in
  learning and knowing about the MDG and were
  optimistic that that knowledge could transform
  the way data and information are gathered,
  stored, processed and disseminated. MDG
  monitoring and reporting mean little or nothing
  to the people who are affected by the systems
  that are being reported on. The monitoring or
  the MDG has until now been only an academic
  exercise to gather statistical data and report to
  some group of people out there with no bearing
  on the reality of the livelihood of the people
  about whom the reports are generated.
• There has been very little effort to transfer
  knowledge about the MDG to the people it affects
  the most i.e. the regions and the districts.
  Most of the work on MDG monitoring are at the
  national level and on conferences and workshops.
  No education is going on at the lower level of
  the society.

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MDG Reporting

• The MDG reports on Ghana are of two kinds
• The National reports by NDPC and national
  affiliate agencies
• The JMP reports on Ghana by UNICEF and WHO
• The reports from these two sources are always
  likely to yield different results at any
  particular time.
• Under which can we talk about Counting the
  Numbers?

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JMP report on MDG

• JMP data collection
• The data collected for JMP come from two main
  sources assessment questionnaires and household
  surveys.
• Assessment questionnaires are normally sent to
  WHO country representatives, to be completed in
  liaison with local UNICEF staff and national
  agencies involved in the sector.
• Household survey results were collected from
  several sources, including Demographic Health
  Surveys (DHS), UNICEF's Multiple Indicator
  Cluster Surveys (MICS), World Health Surveys
  (WHS) and national demographic censuses.
• The MDG reports by the JMP on Ghana cannot be
  aggregated to the lower level where it could
  enhance or inform on planning the development
  processes. The reports uses statistical survey
  data and linear regression to determine the
  coverage. The national data gathered by the
  national offices of the JMP are not necessarily
  those that are published at t he international
  level.
• The main source of the JMP report on the MDG are
  data from surveys conducted by the Ghana
  Statistical Service (GSS) and published in Ghana
  Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), Ghana Living
  Standard Surveys and others . The main source is
  the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (DHS).
  Note that two different surveys by GSS yield
  different results.

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JMP report on MDG - 2

• The MDG reports from the JMP does not take into
  account actual delivery of facilities to the
  communities. The national reports from NDPC does
  not play a role in the JMP reports.
• The numbers do not count and cannot count in the
  current JMP reporting scheme.
• The JMP does not necessarily take data from their
  national offices own collections and sources.
  This is because of they would like an
  internationally accepted sources of data.
• The fact that the MDG report from the JMP cannot
  be aggregated to lower levels is another concern.
  How does an aggregate MDG report affect some
  district assembly in some remote corner of the
  country? How could we expect that DA to take
  interest in the monitoring of the MDG? What is
  there in the MDG reporting for the DA? How can
  they use MDG reporting to plan activities in
  their own district assemblies?

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National (NDPC) Reports on MDG

• MDG reporting is done as part of their GPRS
  monitoring exercise and the mandate to monitor
  development in the nation. Their source of on
  Rural Water and Sanitation coverage is CWSA.
• The reports are published and copied to the JMP
  national offices.
• If the source is CWSA then the data can be
  disaggregated and used for lower level planning
  and development process.
• The numbers can count and in the NDPC reporting
  scheme.
• The current data does not seem to be complete or
  perfect.

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National (NDPC) Reporting on MDG-2
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National (NDPC) Reporting on MDG-2
JMP (NATIONAL) UNICEF/WHO
NDPC
CWSA, National
Other sectors and Other stakeholders
RPMG (under RPCU)
RWST (CWSA Regional)
DPMG (under DPCU)
District Assemblies (DA) (working through the
DWST)
Other stakeholders and actors in the sector
Community
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Sample MDG Monitoring Report

• Variance in results

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Differences in MDG Reports

• The differences arises as a result of
• The Source of the data
• Survey and Statistical data
• Count the actual numbers
• The methodology for evaluating coverage
• Statistical linear regression
• Conventional method of evaluation using the
  counted numbers
• Discrete method of evaluation using the counted
  numbers
• Problems with definitions and standards used.

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Observations

• There are as many systems and databases as there
  are participants in the sector, Supporters of
  these systems feel very strongly about their own
  systems and suspicious of system from other
  stakeholders.
• So far it is only the NMS that has any input into
  the MDG reporting system through the NDPC who
  monitors the MDG at the national level. This
  came from the accession by the NDPC that all
  their data and information on rural water and
  sanitation comes from CWSA.
• In many instances it was found out that the
  districts under report their facilities to CWSA.
  The reports that most districts send to CWSA are
  on the facilities that are put in place through
  the CWSA projects. Facilities by other
  stakeholders especially from CSO are not reported
  to CWSA and so are likely to be missing on the
  CWSA system.
• There are some recalcitrant CSOs operating in the
  sector. A lot of the places visited talked about
  ADRA, Church of God, Bible Church of Africa among
  others thet they do not send report or
  information to the DAs nor to CWSA

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Observations - 2

• Some other districts report to CWSA on request.
  They send reports only when requests come from
  CWSA. If CWSA does not make any request then no
  data is sent to them. Even when request are made,
  the responses are to the specific issues raised
  in the request. So some data could also be lost.
• Where data gathering is concerned NGOs submit
  their reports mainly to their sponsors. In cases
  where there has been some collaboration the
  annual reports are sent to CWSA. It however not
  very certain what happens to these reports.
• It has been observed that many reports sent to a
  unit or an organisation ends up with the head of
  the unit or organisation and does not end up
  where it could be used to inform or update the
  database system or any information system in
  place.
• Lack of feedback. There has not been a single
  instance where a feedback was set to the source
  of information pr data as a means or quality
  assurance.

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Observations - 3

• There are no institutional structures in place
  for data gathering and transmission to a central
  point. In almost all regions the relationships
  used for data acquisition were personal. Some
  cases were found where the relationship between
  the NGOs and CWSA was not the best but the
  relationship between the IT personnel was cordial
  and that relationship was used for data
  transmission. The system cannot depend on
  personal relationships to function.
• Capacities are not adequate at any level within
  the current operational scheme to gather,
  collate, analyse and share the data and
  information. Primary data gathering needs to be
  done at district level so that capacities at the
  higher levels could be released for collation and
  quality assurance.
• Funds need to be obtained to build capacity at
  the district and community levels and Civil
  Society Organisations in order that they can
  participate and share in a unified information
  systems for MDG monitoring. The capacity
  building should not be left with the individual
  organisations.

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Observations - 4

• No serious quality assurance takes place in the
  data processing cycle. This may also be due to
  capacity and the gap between primary data source
  and the point of entering into the information
  system.
• There is a very serious lack of collaboration
  between players in the sector. A lot of blame
  game has and is going on in the sector especially
  between the NGOs and CWSA. This blame game has
  accompanying it suspicion and mistrust. A new
  working atmosphere or environment and
  relationship needs to be created to facilitate
  the collaboration that is expected to be built.
  Any differences in approach to the delivery of
  services should not hinder the accurate gathering
  of information on the facilities provided. CWSA
  should play the lead role and act as the rallying
  point of the stakeholders in the sector and not a
  competitor in the provision of facilities for the
  communities. In the same manner all the other
  players should recognise the lead role of CWSA
  and support their effort in organising and
  presenting data on the sector.

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Observations - 5

• The Civil Society Organisations have not been
  very involved in the monitoring of the MDG though
  their contribution for the delivery MDG is very
  significant. This means that the Civil Society
  Organisations have not made themselves count in
  the monitoring of the MDG. The Civil Society
  Organisations cannot be blamed entirely for this
  development. The structure and procedures to
  facilitate their participation are not in place.
  This is not to say that all of Civil Society
  Organisations contribution is ignore or has not
  been accounted for. However they have not
  quality assured their contribution, so the
  numbers from the CSO could have been under
  counter or duplicated.
• There is great potential for the involvement of
  Civil Society Organisations in the MDG delivery
  and monitoring process. This can be facilitated
  by the establishment of structure to facilitate
  the involvement of the Civil Society
  Organisations. It would be appropriate for the
  Civil Society Organisations to see themselves as
  participating with high interests and stakes and
  not necessarily leading.

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Observations - 5

• The presence and concentration of Civil Society
  Organisations varies greatly across the length
  and breadth of the nation. While the some regions
  have a high presence of CSOs in the water and
  sanitation sector and therefore strong coalition
  other regions have very few and therefore
  difficult to strengthen the coalition. It would
  be appropriate for CWSA play the lead role while
  the CSO play a very cooperative and supporting
  role
• There is a lot of goodwill for collaboration and
  cooperation. This is the best time to take
  advantage of the current situation of goodwill.
  At least there is the unifying desire to let the
  numbers count in the monitoring of the MDG.

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Issues and Comments

• The stakeholders in the Water and Sanitation
  sector provide services that affect not only
  conceptual things but real people and people
  across the length and breadth of the nation.
  Reporting on the Millennium Development Goals
  (MDG) in the water and sanitation should not be
  seen as only fulfilling some conceptual,
  statistical or legal requirement but to provide
  real service to the people, a service that is
  accessible, reliable and the data and information
  on the facilities being available and verifiable.
• The number of players and stakeholders in the
  water and sanitation sector is very large and are
  varying in distribution and in size and
  organisation. While some are national and even
  international in nature, others are independent
  while yet others just provide one time
  interventions and back out. The interest of the
  stake holders and methods of operations could
  also vary as much as the number of stakeholders
  in the sector. At the end of all the activities
  in the sector however, it should be possible to
  account for the total intervention in the sector.
  Any attempt to try and coordinate all the
  activities in the sector would need a lot of
  consensus building and bridging the gaps that
  currently exist between the various stakeholders
  in the sector.

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Issues and Comments - 2

• It should not just be enough to say that we are
  monitoring the MDG when what we are monitoring
  does not make any meaning to the people on the
  ground. Many of the sites visited has given the
  indication that they do not know anything about
  the Millennium Development Goals and what benefit
  or impact it can make on the their activities,
  but at the end of the session with them all were
  prepared to change their attitude toward data and
  information. Education on the monitoring of the
  MDG could go a long way to begin the change of
  attitude toward data and information. Education
  on the monitoring of the MDG could begin the act
  of creating and information society.
• So far not single person or organisation can
  account for the total intervention in the water
  and sanitation sector. Without changing the
  specific interests of any stakeholder or player
  in the sector it should be possible to fairly
  accurately or even absolutely accurately account
  for the intervention in the sector both at the
  aggregated and disaggregated levels.

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Issues and Comments - 3

• The only coverage data that has an aggregate
  figure that is disaggregated even to the
  community level is the system that exists in the
  CWSA. With that system, coverage information can
  be obtained at the national, regional, district
  and community levels. The handicap in using the
  values from that system is that data available
  has not been updated for some time now and
  therefore cannot be ascertained as the correct
  level of current facility coverage in the sector.
• CWSA has done quite a lot of work in providing
  computers and a limited amount of computer
  literacy training in the districts especially
  with the DWSTs. This has been further enhanced
  by the DISCAP in the three northern regions.
  This can be developed further to give the DAs
  enough computer literacy training to gather and
  maintain and administer their own information
  systems. The first step in the process of
  building information systems at district level
  has been taken by CWSA across the country and
  enhanced by DISCAP in the three northern regions.
  It would require the effort of all stakeholders
  especially the development partners to enhance
  what has been started to build full fletched
  information systems bases at the districts.

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Issues and Comments - 4

• So far the reports on the attainment of the MDG
  even by the JMP are only at the aggregate level.
  Neither they nor any other body can disaggregate
  these values and thus make them verifiable. The
  study observed that the JMP which comprises of
  UNICEF/WHO hardly uses the data provided by the
  UNICEF/WHO country offices but relies on data
  generated by Ghana Statistical Services. The
  data from the GSS varies with as many studies as
  they conduct. The method for gathering this data
  is by sampling. Once the actual coverage can be
  obtained, it would be much better than any
  statistical sampling technique that could be
  applied. A statistical sampling technique would
  not be able to provide a disaggregated value to
  any substantial accuracy compared to the actual
  figures which are obtainable. With accurate and
  verifiable information it should be possible to
  point out to the JMP any error in the information
  they turn out on the sector.

33
Issues and Comments - 5

• The Districts should form the smallest unit for
  data gathering. All primary data should be
  gathered from and only from the districts. The
  data so gathered should be made beneficial to the
  DA for its own management function as well as
  being the cardinal point for information on the
  district to the outside world. Some of the
  districts visited have proven that this is
  possible. The typical example is
  Savelugu/Nanton. The data requirement does not
  need to go into technical detail at the district
  level since there may not be enough capacity to
  be collecting the technical data. However the
  basic information as to the number of facilities
  in the district, the provider of the facility,
  the community in which the facility could be
  found and the population of the community should
  be readily available in the districts.
  Additionally it should be possible to have the
  GPS locations of all facilities in the district
  plotted. The districts should the point where
  data is generated. During the survey it came to
  light that the assertion that the districts are
  not capable of handling information systems is
  not true. Such districts as Savelugu/Nanton
  District in the Northern Region and West Akim
  District in the Eastern Region, just to mention
  two have proven that they are more than capable
  in running their own information systems.

34
Issues and Comments - 6

• A lot of blame game has and is going on in the
  sector especially between the NGOs and CWSA.
  This blame game has accompanying it suspicion and
  mistrust. A new working atmosphere or
  environment and relationship needs to be created
  to facilitate the collaboration that is expected
  to be built. Any differences in approach to the
  delivery of services should not hinder the
  accurate gathering of information on the
  facilities provided. CWSA should play the lead
  role and act as the rallying point of the
  stakeholders in the sector and not a competitor
  in the provision of facilities for the
  communities. In the same manner all the other
  players should recognise the lead role of CWSA
  and support their effort in organising and
  presenting data on the sector.
• There is still a problem with the definitions in
  the monitoring of the MDG. An example is the
  meant by access. Different institutions define
  access to portable water differrentlyWhile CWSA
  considers access to be that the facility should
  be within 500m radius of those using the
  facility, in the JMP the access is put at 1000m.
  This means that we could use different schemes to
  measure measuring access and therefore coverage.

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Making the CONIWAS Numbers Count

• As long as the JMP uses statistical values to
  report on the MDG, it does not matter what
  efforts and structures are put in place, and it
  does not matter how accurate our values and joint
  efforts are, our numbers would not count in the
  JMP MDG report.
• CONIWAS must work to bring the recalcitrant
  member to conform. Some CSO do not report
  anyone. Example is ADRA, Bible Church of Africa,
  Church of Christ.
• CONIWAS must accept the lead role of CWSA and
  ensure that all data is transmitted through the
  accepted established structures in the framework

36
Recommendations for Framework

• All primary data should reside with the and the
  districts alone must own the primary data
• Establish district level Database system to
  collect primary data to feed the MDG monitoring
  system The anchor of the system should be CWSA.
• The system should be very simple to avoid the
  need for high skill retraining and support
• Capacity in the Districts
• There should be a very strong feedback structure
  built into the framework.
• Stakeholder interaction (also for feedback)
  should be revived or instituted at the regional
  and district level
• All stakeholders and players in the sector should
  subcribe to this system.

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District-Based ME System on Track MDG and other
Indicators Related to Water Sanitation
Poverty and Policy Reform Impact Indicators
(Working out the Definitions)
Community, Unit, Area and Zonal Data Collection
NGOs and CSOs
District Level ME System (Source of Primary Data)
RCC Regional Reporting System
CWSA Regional NMS
MWH-PPBME ME System
MLGRD-PPBME ME System
CWSA National NMS
UNDP World Bank IMF etc
NDPC-GPRS, MDG, HPIC Monitoring
JMP (national) UNICEF/WHO
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THANK YOU